CHAPTER TWO

Physical Cabling
Chapter Outline and Objectives

✔ Introduction
✔ Structured Cabling
✔ Unshielded Twisted-Pair Cable
✔ Terminating Cat6/5e UTP Cables
✔ Cable Testing and Certification
✔ 10G Ethernet over Copper
 PHYSICAL CABLING

The objective of this chapter is for the reader to gain an introductory

understanding of the cable media including the category types the steps for
terminating cables cable testing, certification, and cable troubleshooting

This chapter examines the physical cabling used to link computers

together to form a computer local area network. This is called
physical layer cabling.
The term physical layer describes the media that interconnects
networking devices.
The main focus of the chapter will be on the use of unshielded
twisted-pair (UTP) cable in computer networks.
 Transmission Media

Media is the actual physical environment through which data travels as it

moves from one component to another, and it connects network devices.
Thus, Transmission media is a pathway that carries the information from
sender to receiver. We use different types of cables or/and waves to
transmit data. These media are generally physical objects made of
materials such as copper or glass.
Guided and Unguided Media are the most two important types of
transmission media.
 Guided Media
It is a physical transmission media which can be seen and touched. It has
tree types.
❖Co-exial cable
❖Twisted pair cable
❖Fiber optic cable
Unguided Media

It is a media used for data transmission which can’t be seen and touched.
It has the followings
✔Radio Waves
✔Micro Waves
✔Infrared Waves
 Coaxial Cables

Coaxial cables are the guided media

that carries the signal of higher
frequency range compared to twisted
pair cable. Coaxial cable contains a
center conductor made of copper
that’s surrounded by a plastic jacket,
with a braided shield over it.
 Twisted Pair Cable

A type of cable that consists of multiple

individually insulated wires twisted around
one another. The use of two wires twisted
together helps to reduce crosstalk and
electromagnetic induction.
Twisted-pair cabling is the most common
networking cabling in use today; however,
some networks still use older technologies
like coaxial cable.
 Types Of Twisted Pair Cables

There are two twisted pair types: shielded and unshielded.

Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)

 Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP)

Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP)

cable is a four-pair wire. Each of
the eight individual copper wires in
UTP cable is covered by an
insulating material. In addition,
the wires in each pair are twisted
around each other. UTP cables are
lighter and thinner than STP
cables.

An example of UTP cable terminated

with an RJ-45 modular plug.
 STP VS. UTP
✔ STP (Shielded twisted pair) is a
twisted pair cable enclosed in foil or
mesh shield.
✔ Less susceptible to noise and
crosstalk.
✔ Installation of cables is difficult
comparatively.
✔ High data rates, expensive and
needs more maintenance
UTP (Unshielded twisted pair) is a
cable with wires that are twisted
together.
High susceptible to noise
comparatively.
Easily installed as cables are
smaller, lighter, and flexible
Low data rates, cheaper and not
require much maintenance.
 UTP Cable Categories

Type No. of Pairs Transmission Rate Applications

Cat 1 2 twisted wire pairs Voice Grade An old

Telephone Cable
Cat 2 4 twisted wire pairs 4 Mbps Token Ring N/W

Cat 3 4 twisted wire pairs 10 Mbps Token Ring N/W

Cat 4 4 twisted wire pairs 16 Mbps Token Ring N/W

Cat5/5e (enhanced) 4 twisted wire pairs 100 Mbps E, FE or GE

Cat 6/6a (advanced) 4 twisted wire pairs 1000 Mbps with FE or GE

250-500 MHz B/w
Cat 7 4 twisted wire pairs 10 Gbps with 600 GE
MHz B/w
 CAT5

The category 5 cable standard was established in 1991 and many

computer networks are still using CAT5 cables in their networks.
Certified CAT5 cabling works well in Ethernet networking environments
that run both the 10 Mbps Ethernet and 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet data
rates.
Note that the term Fast Ethernet is used to describe the 100 Mbps
data rate for Ethernet networks.
 CABLE DATA PERFORMANCE ISSUE

In some cases, users on networks with CAT5 cabling are

experiencing network congestion or bottlenecking of the
data due to the increase file transfer sizes and the limited
bandwidth of their network.
These terms describe that excessive data traffic is slowing
down computer communications even in Fast Ethernet
networks.
Basically, the demands on the network are exceeding the
performance capabilities of the CAT5 cable.
 NETWORK SLOWDOWN

The slowdown of the data is of major concern in

computer networks. File access time is delayed,
productivity is affected, and the time required to
complete a task is increased.
The slowdown in your network could be costing your
company money. Can you image the consequences if a
slowdown in your network causes a delay in the
company’s billing?
 CAT5e
TIA/EIA ratified the CAT5e cabling specification in 1999 to
address this continuing need for greater data handling
capacity in the computer networks.

The enhanced CAT5 cable provides an improvement in cable

performance and if all components of the cable installation
are done according to specification then CAT5e will support
full duplex gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbps Ethernet) using all
four wire pairs. Full duplex means that the computer system
can transmit and receive at the same time.
 CAT6

TIA/EIA ratified the CAT6 cabling specification in June 2002.

This cable provides an even better performance specification and 250

MHz of bandwidth while maintaining backward compatibility with
CAT5/5e
Cable Terminations
 Terminations

The termination is the point where the cable is connected to

terminals in either a modular plug, jack, or patch panel.

Twisted pair cables are used to connect networking

components to each other in the network. These cables are
commonly called patch cables.
Terminating the RJ-45 connector for CAT5e/6 cable is defined
by the EIA/TIA standard.
In this section a technique for terminating CAT5e/6 cables
with RJ-45 modular plugs is demonstrated for two different
configurations of patch cables, a straight-through and a
crossover cable.
 Straight-through vs. Crossover Cable
A straight-through cable is a
type of twisted pair cable
that is used in LANs to
connect a DTE device to a
DCE device such as a
compute to hub/switch.
On a straight-through cable,
the wired pins and colors
should match on both ends.
Both ends are either 568A or
568B.
A crossover Ethernet cable is a
type of Ethernet cable used to
connect to any DTE device to
another DTE device or any DCE to
another DCE. Unlike a
straight-through cable, the wired
pins and colors are different on
both ends; one end 568A and the
other is 568B.
Straight-through Vs. Crossover Cable

Straight Through
Cable

Crossover Cable
 Straight-through Vs. Crossover Cable

Straight-through Crossover

An example of the wire-map for both cables is shown. A wire-map is a graphical or

text description of the wire connections from pin to pin for a cable under test.
Straight-through Vs. Crossover Cable

Notice:
pins 1-2 of device A connect to
pins 3-6 of device B.
Pins 1-2 of device B connect to
pins 3-6 of device A.
 Uses of Straight-through Vs. Crossover Cable

Use straight through cables Use crossover cables for

for the following cabling: the following cabling:
✔ Switch to switch
• Switch to router
✔ Switch to hub
• Switch to PC or server ✔ Hub to hub
✔ Router to router
• Hub to PC or server ✔ Router Ethernet port to PC
• Bridge to router NIC
✔ PC to PC
• Bridge to PC or Server
 568A VS. 568B
A common question is what is the difference between 568A and 568B.
Basically, these are just two different manufacturer standards used to
wire the modular connector hardware. There is not a performance
improvement with either, just a color order choice.
Industry tends to favor the 568A wiring order. However, either order
can be used as long as the order is maintained throughout the network.
Make sure you know what wire color configuration you are using in a
network, 568A or 568B
 TX-RX Alignment

In a LAN, the proper alignment of the transmit and receive

pairs is managed by a hub or switch, not typically in the
cable. Remember, in a star topology, all network
communication travels through a hub or switch.

You will see an “x” on many of the hub and switch input ports
indicating that this is a cross-connected input. This means
that the transmit and receive pairs are internally swapped to
maintain proper signal alignment of the TX and RX pairs.
Even if the “x” is missing, the hub or switch still properly
aligns the TX and RX wire pairs
Structure of Cabling
 TIA/EIA 568

The first major standard describing a In the year 2000 a new standard, the
structured cabling system for EIA/TIA 568-B was published.
computer networks was the TIA/EIA
568-A in 1995. The three parts of the EIA/TIA 568-B
are as follows:
EIA is a trade organization that
lobbies for the interests of EIA/TIA-568-B.1 Commercial
manufacturers of electronics related
equipment. Cabling
EIA/TIA-568-B.2 Twisted Pair
TIA is also a trade organization that Media
represents the interests of the EIA/TIA-568-B.3 Optical Fiber
telecommunications industry.
Cabling
 EIA/TIA 568-A ADDENDUM 5

The most important addendum to the EIA/TIA 568-A standard

was Addendum 5, published in 1999.

This addendum defined the transmission performance

specifications for 4-pair 100 ohm Category 5e twisted-pair
cabling.

This is the type of cabling recommended for use in today’s

computer networks. (Actually CAT6 is the currently being
recommended)
 Campus Network

The EIA/TIA 568-A standard defined the minimum requirements for

the internal telecommunications wiring in buildings and between
structures in a campus network.

A campus network consists of interconnected LANs within a limited

geographic area such as a college campus, a military base, or a group
of commercial buildings.
 Six Subsystems of a Structured Cabling System

Within the EIA/TIA 568B standard are guidelines defining the six subsystems of
a structured cabling system.

Building Entrance – point where the outdoor cabling interconnects with the
internal building cabling, also called the entrance facilities (EF). Both public and
private network cables enter the building at this point.
Equipment Room – A room set-aside for complex electronic equipment such as
the network servers and telephone equipment.
Telecommunications Closet – location of the cabling termination points that
includes the mechanical terminations and the distribution frames. The
connection of the horizontal cabling to the backbone wiring is made at this
point. This is also called the telecommunications room (TR) or enclosure (TE).
 Continue.....

Backbone Cabling – cabling that interconnects

telecommunication closets, equipment rooms, and cabling
entrances in the same building and between buildings.
Horizontal Cabling - cabling that extends out from the
telecommunications closet into the LAN work area. Typically,
the horizontal wiring is structured in a star configuration
running to each telecommunications outlet, which is the wall
plate where the twisted-pair cable terminates in the room.
Work Area - this is the location of the computers and printers,
patch cables, jacks, computer adapter cables, and fiber
jumpers.
The Telecommunications Cabling System Architecture
The Campus Network Hierarchical Topology

The MC (main cross-connect)

usually connects two or more
buildings and it is typically the
central telecommunications
connection point for a campus or
building. It is also called the Main
Distribution Frame (MDF) or Main
Equipment Room (MER). The MC
connects to Telco, an ISP, etc.
Another term for the MC is the
campus distributor (CD).
The Campus Network Hierarchical Topology

The IC (intermediate
cross-connect), is also
called the building
distributor (BD) and is the
buildings connection point
to the campus backbone.
The IC links the MC to the
horizontal cross-connect
(HC)
The Campus Network Hierarchical Topology

The HC (horizontal
cross-connect) connection
between the building
distributors and the horizontal
cabling to the work area or
workstation outlet. Another
term used for the HC is the
floor distributors - FD)
The Campus Network Hierarchical Topology

The WO (workstation or work-area

outlet) also called the TO
(telecommunications outlet) is used
to connect devices to the cable plant.
The cable type typically used is CAT3,
CAT5, CAT5e, CAT6, CAT6A, and
various coaxial cables. Devices
typically connected to these outlets
are PCs, printers, servers, phones,
televisions, wireless access points,
etc.
The Campus Network Hierarchical Topology

A Figure Demonstrating Real Scenario

 Horizontal Cabling
Permanent network cabling within a building is considered to be horizontal
cabling.
This is defined as the cabling that extends out from the telecommunications
closet into the LAN work area.
Take time to plan for your horizontal cabling installation, this is where your
network interfaces with the users.
There is always a substantial installation cost associated with horizontal cabling
and there is an even greater cost of having to replace or upgrade a cable
installation.
You don’t want to have re-cable your system very often. Careful attention
should be given to planning for the horizontal cabling of a LAN. Make sure that
you fully understand your current networking needs and that your proposed
plan meets the needs. Also, make sure your plan addresses future needs and
growth of your network.
Cable Testing and Certification
 Cable Testing and Certification

The need for increased data rates is pushing the technology

of twisted-pair cable to even greater performance
requirements and placing even greater demands on accurate
testing of the cable infrastructure.

The EIA/TIA 568B standard defines the minimum cable

specifications for twisted-pair categories operating over
bandwidths of 600 Mhz and data rates up to 10 Gbps.

The CAT5e/6 designation is simply a minimum performance

measurement of the cables and the attached terminating
hardware such as RJ-45 plugs, jacks, and patch panels.
 Cable Testing

Cable tests are conducted over the following:

link (point from one cable termination to another) and
the
full channel (consists of all the link elements from the
hub or switch to the wall plate).
EIA/TIA 568 Cat 5e / 6 / 7 Cable Specifications
EIA/TIA 568 CAT5 / 5e / 6 /7 Cable Specifications

Attenuation – this
parameter defines
the amount of loss in
signal strength as it
propagates down the
wire. Also called
Insertion loss
EIA/TIA 568B CAT5 / 5e / 6 Cable Specifications

NEXT - Near-End Crosstalk

Crosstalk is what you
occasionally hear on the
telephone when you can faintly
hear another conversation.
Near-end crosstalk or NEXT, is a
measure of the level of
crosstalk, or signal coupling
within the cable. The
measurement is called near-end
testing because the receiver is
more likely to pick up the
crosstalk from the transmit to
the receiver wire pairs at the
ends.
Cross Section Of a CAT 6 Cable

Crosstalk is more problematic at

higher data rates (e.g. 1Gbps, 10
Gbps). Category 6 cable has a
built-in separator to help minimize
crosstalk among wire pairs as
shown. This separator is used to
keep each wire pair at a minimum
distance from other wire pairs. This
addition reduces crosstalk at higher
frequencies and this helps provide
improved signal bandwidth and
therefore it will support faster data
rates. This addition also helps
improve the far-end cross-talk
(FEXT).
EIA/TIA 568B CAT5 / 5e / 6Cable Specifications

PS-NEXT - The enhanced

twisted‑pair cable must
meet four‑pair NEXT
requirements, which is
called power‑sum NEXT
(PSNEXT) testing.
Basically, power‑sum
testing measures the total
crosstalk of all cable pairs.
This test ensures that the
cable can carry data traffic
on all four pairs at the
same time with minimal
interference.
 EIA/TIA 568B CAT5 / 5e / 6 Cable Specifications

ACR - Manufacturers combine the two measurements of attenuation and

crosstalk on data sheets and list this combined measurement as the
attenuation-to-crosstalk ratio (ACR).
A larger ACR indicates that the cable has a greater data capacity. Essentially,
combined measurement of the quality of the cable. A large ACR indicates the
cables ability to handle a greater bandwidth.

PS-ACR - Power Sum ACR uses all four wire pairs to obtain the measure of the
attenuation-crosstalk ratio. This is a measurement of the difference between
PSNEXT and attenuation (insertion loss). The difference is measured in dB and
higher PSACR dB values indicate better cable performance.
 EIA/TIA 568B CAT5 / 5e / 6 Cable Specifications

ELFEXT – This is the Equal Level FEXT calculation obtained by subtracting the
attenuation value from the far-end crosstalk loss. A poor ELFEXT can result in
data loss. Higher ELFEXT values (dB) indicate the signals at the far end of the
cable are larger than the cross-talk measured at the far end. A larger ELFEXT
(dB) value is desirable.

PS-ELFEXT – Power Sum ELFEXT that uses all four wire pairs to obtain a
combined ELFEXT performance measurement.

Return Loss - provides a measure of the ratio of power transmitted into a

cable to the amount of power returned or reflected.
Cables are not perfect, so there will always be some reflection.
 EIA/TIA 568B CAT5 / 5e / 6 Cable Specifications

Propagation Delay – This is a measure of the amount of time it takes

for a signal to propagate from one end of the cable to another. The
delay of the signal is affected by the Nominal Velocity of Propagation
(NVP) of the cable.

Delay Skew - Enhanced performance specifications of CAT5e

twisted‑pair cable include new specifications for testing delay skew.
Delay skew is a measure of the difference in arrival time between the
fastest and the slowest signal in a UTP wire pair.
 Nominal Velocity Of Propagation (NVP)

NVP is some percentage of the velocity of light and dependent

on the type of cable being tested.
Typical delay values for CAT5/5e UTP cable is about 5.7 nsec per
meter.

The EIA/TIA specification allows for 548 nsec for the maximum
100 meter run (CAT5/5e) and 546 nsec (CAT6).
 Power Sum Measurements

Note: The power sum measurements are critical for

high-speed data communication over UTP.
It has also been shown that twisted-pair can handle gigabit
data rates over a distance up to 100 m. However, the gigabit
data‑rate capability of twisted pair requires the use of all four
wire pairs in the cable, with each pair handling 250 Mbps of
data. The total bit rate is 4 x 250 Mbps, or 1 Gbps.
Hence the need to obtain the combined performance
measurements of all four wire pairs.
10G Ethernet
 10G Ethernet

Ethernet over copper is available for:

10 Mbps (Ethernet)
100Mbps (FastEthernet)
1000Mbps (gigabit Ethernet),
and now 10Gbps (ten gigabit Ethernet – 10G).

(Note that Mbps is “megabits per second”. Some

literature writes this as Mb/s).
 10G Ethernet

The increase in the required bandwidth for transporting a ten gigabit data
transfer rate is placing increased demands on the copper cable as well as the
hardware used for terminating the cable ends and for connecting to the
networking equipment.

There are three improvements required for transmitting the

Higher data bit rates over the copper cabling. These are:
■ improve the cable so that it can carry greater bandwidth
■ improve the electronics used to transmit and receive (recover) the data
■ utilize improvements in both the cable and electronics to facilitate greater
bandwidths and distance.
 10G Ethernet

The standard for 10Gbps is IEEE 802.3an-2006 10GBASE-T. This

standard was developed to support running 10Gbps data over twisted-pair
cabling. The newer standard requires that the bandwidth be increased
from 250MHz to 500 MHz.
Additionally, the new standard supports 10G Ethernet up to 100 meters in
cable length. At one time, most people assumed that higher data rates
would be limited to fiber optics, while this is still true for lengthy runs (>
100 meters).
 10G Ethernet

Alien Crosstalk (AXT)

Alien Crosstalk
(AXT) is unwanted
signal coupling from
one permanent link
to another. Basically
this is the coupling of
a signal from one
4-pair cable to
another 4-pair cable.
 10G Ethernet

Cable manufacturers are starting to offer CAT6 and higher grades

of twisted-pair cable with foil over each of the four wire-pairs. The
designation for this type of cable is foil twisted pair, F/UTP.
There are several advantages of using a shielded cable. The first
is that a shielded cable offers better security since there is less
chance that the data will radiate outside the cable.
Additionally, the foil shield helps to improve noise immunity from
EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference), RFI (Radio Frequency
Interference), and most importantly, AXT (Alien Crosstalk).
 10G Ethernet

Transmission of data over twisted-pair cabling relies on the

signals being “balanced” over the wire pairs. The balance
or symmetry of the signal over the wire pairs helps to
minimize unwanted leakage of the signal.

There are two parameters now defined for CAT6 and better
cabling that address the issue of “balanced” data. The first
is TCL (Transverse Conversion Loss) and the other is
ELTCTL (Equal Level Transverse Conversion Transfer
Loss).
 10G Ethernet
The newer tests also require additional Power-Sum tests.
These are PSANEXT (Power-Sum Alien Near-End
Cross-Talk) and PSAACRF (Power-Sum Alien Attenuation
Cross-talk Ratio Far-end).
These tests have been developed to help ensure cable
compatibility with data transmission and reception that
requires the use of all four wire-pairs.

Both gigabit and ten gigabit require the use of all four
wire pairs.
 10G Ethernet

The 10GBASE-T system

requires the use of all four
wire pairs as shown. This
system splits the 10Gbps
data into four 2.5Gbps
data channels. This same
technique is also used for
1000Mbps (1-gigabit) data
rates except the 1000Mbps
signal is split into four
250Mbps data channels.
 10G Ethernet

10GBASE-T data transmission also requires the use of Digital

Signal Processing (DSP) Compensation Techniques.

The DSP circuitry provides many functions such as signal

conditioning and echo cancellation. Anytime a signal is
transmitted down a cable, part of the signal will be reflected.
This reflection adds to overall signal degradation and limits
the performance of the system.

In 10GBASE-T, the transmit and receive signals are sharing

the same wire pair. This is called full duplex transmission.
 10G Ethernet

The final issue with 10GBASE-T signal transmission

is the performance of the cable. As mentioned
previously, return loss, insertion loss, and
crosstalk are all key limiting issues for 10GBASE-T.

Crosstalk is the most important factor. The types

of crosstalk observed are AXT (alien crosstalk),
NEXT (near-end crosstalk), FEXT (far-end
crosstalk), and ELFEXT (equal level far-end
crosstalk).
 Chapter Key Terms

o EIA ✔ Terminated ▪ T568A

o TIA ✔ Patch Cable ▪ T568B
✔ UTP ▪ Color Map
o Campus Network ✔ CAT5e ▪ TX
o EIA/TIA 568B ✔ CAT6 ▪ RX
✔ balanced mode ▪ Straight-through
o Building Entrance (Entrance ✔ Fast Ethernet ▪ Wire-Map
Facilities) ✔ Network Congestion ▪ Crossover Cable
o Equipment Room ✔ Bottlenecking ▪ slack loop
✔ Full Duplex ▪ Link
o Backbone Cabling ✔ Gigabit Ethernet ▪ Full Channel
o Telecommunications Closet ✔ STP ▪ Attenuation
✔ EMI
o Horizontal Cabling
o Work Area
 Chapter Key Terms

✔ Near-end Crosstalk (NEXT)

▪10G Ethernet
✔ Crosstalk
✔ Power Sum NEXT (PSNEXT) ▪10GBase-T
✔ Equal Level FEXT (ELFEXT
▪Alien Crosstalk (AXT)
✔ PSELFEXT
✔ ACR ▪PSANEXT
✔ PSACR ▪TCL
✔ Return Loss
✔ Propagation Delay ▪LCL
✔ Nominal Velocity of Propagation ▪F/UTP
(NVP)
✔ Delay Skew